Wednesday, January 9, 2013

The year is off to a bit of a rocky start! I have some number of posts left over from last year that I haven't gotten around to doing, but instead of being a good bunny and blogging ahead over the holidays, I spent time eating and lying in bed playing hours worth of Bejeweled Blitz on my phone because I couldn't be bothered to get up and grab the TV remote... you know the deal. I'm sure you all wish you spent your time off more fruitfully. In the spirit of that idea, I decided to book all my holidays for the next half year, thanks to a CX long haul + 2 short haul special.

If you're in the need of some motivation, and certainly some holiday porn, here are four resorts I'm dying to visit (or re-visit) this year...

The W Bali
Stayed here a year and a half ago -- most epic pool complex ever, a never-leave-the-resort kind of resort. And filled with fun, fashionable guests over the typical chubby old Westerners (no judgment).

Angsana Vabbinfaru, Maldives
Got to stay here back in 2009 for work (yes, yay!) doing a story on ocean conservation when they first opened the in-ocean villas. Never really fully got to appreciate the place because I was at the time a) working, b) on these weird skin antibiotics that made me photo-sensitive and obliged to hide from sunshine. Saaaad.

Villa Zamani, Phuket
Have been dying to stay in this 10-person private villa ever since friends came back and raved about it. Reasonably priced, and comes with a seven-person service staff including driver, chef, etc. Plus, I've looked at these photos so many times now I just really need to see if it lives up to the dream.

Vana Belle, Koh Samui
Opening this month in Samui is Vana Belle. I'm headed to the Thai island in June for a wedding so that should be enough time for them to work out all those opening kinks and give us a flawless experience... the view in that pool villa photo is certainly enough to make a girl dream big.